ADC Leadship: Battle to remove Mark, Aregbesola continues Monday
Despite its recognition by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the battle to oust Senator David Mark, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola and other national leaders of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, is still raging and will continue in court on Monday.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Senator Mark-led interim leadership of the party to appear before it on September 15, to show cause why the INEC should not be barred from recognising it.
While the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, hailed the court order asking the mark-led team to appear on Monday, the ADC picked holes in reports that the court had ordered the removal of the former Senate President as its leader.
The INEC had on Wednesday recognised Mark and Aregbesola and others as leaders of the party after weeks of delay because it did not have specimen of their signatures.
In June, Mark was appointed interim chairman and Aregbesola interim national secretary after the exit of founding Chairman, Chief Ralph Okey Nwosu as part of a wider realignment within the ADC aimed at forming a strong coalition to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Bola Tinubu in 2027. The coalition has the support of opposition leaders, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and Labour Party’s Peter Obi. Others include former Rivers State governor and Transportation Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, former Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai; and former Sokoto State governor, Senator Aminu Tambuwal and other influential politicians.
The leadership transition faced strong resistance from some party figures. Former ADC presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu, described the change as illegal and divisive, warning that it undermined the party’s democratic values.
Similarly, Nafiu Bala, a former governorship candidate in Gombe State, declared himself interim chairman and accused the new leadership of attempting to hijack the party’s structures. The dispute eventually moved to the courts, with three aggrieved members filing a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to nullify Mark’s appointment on procedural grounds.
Court orders Mark-led leadership to show cause Sept 15
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in a ruling delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite, ordered the Mark-led leadership to appear before it on September 15, after it refused an ex-parte application by a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Nafiu Gombe.
The plaintiff, who is laying claim to the chairmanship seat of the party, had in the ex-parte application, prayed the court to restrain the Senator Mark-led faction from further parading themselves as leaders of the party. In the motion that was dated September 2, the plaintiff specifically prayed the court for: “An order of interim injunction restraining the 4th defendant from recognising the 2nd and 3rd defendants as the National Chairman and National Secretary, their agents and privies of the 1st defendant/respondent herein, pending the hearing of the motion on notice hereby filed in this matter.”
Defendants in the suit, are ADC; Senator Mark (Chairman); former governor of Osun State; Ogbeni Aregbesola; INEC; as well as the immediate past National Chairman of the party, Chief Nwosu.
However, in the ruling he delivered on September 4, a copy Vanguard sighted, Justice Nwite, instead of granting the ex-parte application, ordered the plaintiff to go and put the defendants on notice by serving the legal processes on them.
The court, held: “It is hereby ordered as follows: “That the plaintiff/applicant’s application dated and filed 2/9/2025, is refused. Value Added Tax
“That an order of this court is hereby made directing the plaintiff/applicant to put the defendants on notice.
“That the defendants/respondents are hereby ordered by this honourable court to show cause why the application should not be granted. “The case is hereby adjourned to September 15, 2025, for the respondents to show cause,” Justice Nwite further held. INEC had recently updated its records to reflect the Senator Mark-led National Working Committee, NWC, of the ADC.
Three aggrieved members of the ADC had earlier approached the court to sack the Senator Mark-led NWC.
The plaintiffs- Adeyemi Emmanuel, Ayodeji Tolu and Haruna Ismaila- further challenged the membership of Senator mark and others that were appointed to lead the party in the interim.
They prayed the court to among other things, determine whether the purported handover of the party’s leadership structure to individuals involved in a merger, was not a direct violation of a subsisting judgement.
Speaking on the court matter, the ADC 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, one of those against Mark’s leadership, told Vanguard: “This is a sound and welcome development. Yes, those invaders will be shown the way out of the ADC.”
No court order against Mark, Aregbesola — ADC
However, the ADC has said that no court order removed Senator Mark and Aregbesola from their positions as national chairman and national secretary. The party described reports suggesting otherwise as politically motivated fake news. In a statement by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, the party explained, “Contrary to some misleading publications, the court did not issue any order restraining Mark and Aregbesola from functioning as the National Chairman and National Secretary of the ADC, respectively.
“Having failed to stop INEC from acknowledging the leadership change in ADC, the political jobbers are now resorting to fake news. This goes to show that these agents of destabilisation will stop at nothing, including misrepresenting court rulings, in their desperate efforts to sow confusion and further undermine opposition parties
“In this regard, the leadership of the ADC urges members of the press and the general public to be wary of fake news and inaccurate reports characteristic of the ruling party and their agents.”